Light of the Heart V2 Chapter 2
#4 of Light of the Heart V2
Well. Next chapter here. Yeah...
The city seemed even bigger than he had first imagined. Darius was now in what seemed to be the city's major squares as "people" of all kinds commuted around him. There seemed to be a shop wherever he looked some of them obviously meant for tourists. No one batted an eye towards his direction to his relief. As he was busy gawking at the hustle and bustle around him he noticed a gigantic castle in the distance.
That's gotta be important. Maybe for some kind of royalty? I should probably keep a low profile and ask some common people for help. But how do I ask for what I need without seeming suspicious? Let's see... information.
Darius came up with one idea but it was only based off of a good hunch. Now he just had to decide who to ask. He searched around the area for possible candidates but that proved difficult because it seemed that everyone he saw was busy conversing, working, or both. The few who weren't just seemed sketchy to say the least. Especially that bear with the cigar who was giving him a dirty look from an alley between two shops.
This isn't like back home at all everything is...well, more everything!
Darius, having grown up in a smaller city was used to a proportionately smaller community compared to the one he couldn't stop being amazed at now. As the fox was absorbed in his search and his thoughts he failed to watch where he was going and bumped into something that felt like a warm brick wall. Luckily(or not) his muzzle was there to "soften" the impact.
"Watch it, weakling," a gruff voice growled above him as Darius rubbed his new nose which was now in pain. He looked up to see an 8 foot tall Drakel glaring down at him with piercing crimson slits. This dragon had obsidian black scales which gleamed in the sunlight(the first one he had seen with this kind of coloration he noted) and was at least a head taller than the previously biggest Drakel he had discovered so far. The dragon's incredibly muscular stature and angered gaze gave him a chill down his spine but he could somehow feel that he wasn't actually in danger. The dragon regarded him for a few more seconds before snorting and continuing past the fox. Darius stood there stunned before he realized that he needed to do something quickly turning around and unwittingly grabbing the dragon's paw without thinking. The dragon froze for a split second before clenching his free paw into a fist and uttering a threatening growl.
"YOU LITTLE..." he snarled before turning around and aiming a punch straight for Darius' face to which the fox responded by quickly shielding his muzzle with crossed arms in a desperate attempt at guarding which he knew would be easily shattered by the Drakel who must've been at least ten times stronger than he was physically. As he clenched his eyes shut preparing for a pair of broken arms he heard a loud *CLANG* before an irritated growl from atop his head. When he realized that he hadn't died yet Darius opened his eyes and they immediately widened at the sight just in front of his arms. A shield much like one that would've been used by a medieval knight hung suspended in midair. A certain Drakel's fist was pushed up against it evidently having been stopped in its tracks. The shield itself was unremarkable except for the ghostly white glow it was giving off. A shifting on his head made the fox look up to see his little companion looking directly at his assailant with glowing white eyes. Finally, the pup yawned and closed its eyes curling back up into a sleeping position as if nothing had happened. At the same time, the ghostly shield dissolved into speckles of light that seemed to evaporate into the air.
"Ummm...could you please tell me where to find a library...around here?" Darius asked as innocently as he could even putting on a smile as if nothing had transpired at all. The Drakel just stared at him with a blank expression Darius could've sworn twitched every once in a while with his fist still in the same position it had been stopped despite there being no further obstacles between it and its intended target. Suddenly the fist unclenched and instead forcefully grabbed the fox's arm and dragged him along like a ragdoll despite his best efforts to break free. Darius eventually gave up struggling and walked along with the dragon who's grip had softened somewhat but still held firmly. He could've sworn he heard his captor mutter "how the hell could a little whelp..." followed by incoherency.
What have I gotten myself intooooooo!? He cried inwardly while his not so average dragon buddy snoozed as if everything was right in the world.
-Some time later-
** ** Darius wasn't sure how long he had been walking with the large Drakel but couldn't care less. He was more worried about the glances that were thrown their way by everyone they passed by. Some gave looks of pity while others seemed oddly amused. Either way no one bothered to question let alone help him out of his predicament. The Drakel hadn't said anything at all and kept his demeanor impassive so the fox couldn't tell what he was thinking as he walked along at a steady pace. Eventually they stopped moving and Darius turned his gaze forward to see a grand looking building that towered above them. In fact it looked as incredible as the castle he had seen earlier with the tall spires and arches...wait this WAS the castle he had seen earlier. As Darius stood mesmerized at its grandeur the Drakel had given the gate guards a slight nod to which they immediately bowed and stepped out of his way. He continued on into the castle dragging the little fox with him pulling him out of his stupor.
As they navigated the many halls of the castle Darius noticed the many portraits and busts that decorated them; many depicting dragons or wolves and the occasional...orca? Eventually the two stopped in front of a door with a logo that looked like paw featuring sharp claws the whole thing being encompassed by a flame-like design. The Drakel quickly opened the door and suddenly pushed the fox inside causing him to stumble in. His captor was close behind him closing the door on his way in and walked past Darius but not before giving him a glance that simply said "follow." Not wanting to get him angry Darius quickly caught up and stayed close behind him.
As Darius glanced at his surroundings he noticed that the room they were in was separated into several sections. One corner had what looked to be a bar at which several individuals were enjoying drinking and chatting. Another section seemed to be a lounge complete with comfy looking furniture and a fireplace that was not currently lit. There was also a hall on the other end of the room that contained many doors but Darius couldn't tell where they led. Finally, far in the back there was a stage with a podium and some sort of bulletin board with various papers attached to it but he couldn't make out what they said. The atmosphere was of great contrast to the parts of the castle Darius had seen so far as there were people socializing all around in a manner he was pretty sure to be casual as opposed to the quiet and serious demeanor of the guards roaming the halls. He also noticed that multiple species were present but he didn't see any other Fenneckin which disappointed him for some reason.
Darius was so caught up in the surroundings that he didn't notice the Drakel stop in front of a tiger lounging on couch with a book in his face and ended up hurting his muzzle for the second time that day. Luckily, the Drakel didn't react at all this time.
"Kir(Keer), I need your help with something." the dragon stated matter-of-factly. The tiger looked up from his book to see who had interrupted his reading and suddenly gave a mischievous grin.
"Oh my, THE Du'Raan(Dew-Rawn) needs MY help? I never thought this day would come!" the cat said in an oh-so-teasing tone.
"First off," the Drakel growled. "It's just Raan. Second off, this is serious." The dragon seemed annoyed but not angry.
"I know. It's always serious business with you." the tiger before sticking his tongue out in a mocking manner. "What do you need?" he said in a more serious but still casual tone. The Drakel immediately grabbed the fox behind him and pulled him over to stand next to the towering dragon in plain sight of the curious tiger. Darius just gave a nervous smile and a little wave with his free arm.
"I need you to scan him for me." he said.
"Him? He looks like just like a normal Feneck if you ask me." the tiger questioned.
"Just do it." the dragon said with finality.
"Alright, whatever you say." the tiger said rolling his eyes.
"Uhhh scan m-?"
"Shut up whelp" the dragon said coldly; cutting off the fox. With that the tiger got up from the couch and closed his eyes for a few seconds while taking a deep breath before opening them to reveal that the now gave off a slight orange glow. The tiger proceeded to walk around him, never blinking as his gaze seemed to penetrate every part of the fox's body. When the tiger appeared to be done he blinked once and his eyes had returned to their normal state. The rest of his face however...that was a different story.
"N-no way!" the tiger exclaimed clearly in complete shock in response to whatever he had seen. Darius was a little frightened.
What if he found out that I'm an avatar!? What if he found out that I'm from another freaking dimension!? I'm as good as dead now!
"What!? What is it Kir!? The dragon questioned with urgency.
"Th-this fox. He doesn't have any mana!" the cat said still looking incredulously at Darius.
"What the fuck does that mean Kir!? Explain!" the dragon snarled.
"When I scanned him his body was normal and everything but when I looked at his mana network, I saw that he didn't even HAVE a mana network! This guy doesn't-no. He's NEVER had mana in the first place based off what I just saw.
"B-but that's impossible! EVERYTHING has mana!" the dragon said surprised.
"That's what I'm saying!" the tiger replied. Darius had no clue what was going on but apparently he wasn't exactly normal by this world's standards and for him that was a pretty bad thing to have had found out about.
"Then how did he block my punch with that shield?" the dragon asked more to himself than anyone else.
"He did WHAT!?" the tiger exclaimed now seeming amazed. The dragon grumbled.
"Yeah he...I kind of threw a punch at his muzzle for disrespecting me. Then he blocked it by conjuring a shield." the dragon explained. Darius could've sworn he heard him also mutter "fucking hurt "afterwards but he couldn't be sure.
"Wow even I can't block a punch from ol' Raan here without hurting a little. Either he's slipping or you're something pretty special." the tiger chuckled before being whacked on the shoulder by a steaming Drakel.
"Uhh.thanks...?" Darius muttered shyly. "But I don't think I was the one who did that. I'm pretty sure it was my friend here." Darius explained as he pointed to the dragon pup on his head that had been silently looking at its surroundings innocently.
"Is he your familiar/" the tiger asked as he looked at the little dragon curiously.
"My what?"
"Your familiar. The being you formed a contract with. He's your spell conduit right?" the tiger inquired.
"Ummm...I...don't...think...so?"the fox answered unsurely. With that Kir proceeded to perform a scan on Darius' little friend and he was surprised for the second time that day.
"What is it this time Kir?" Raan asked apparently having finally cooled down.
"This dragon pup apparently has the mana capacity of a fully grown elder dragon and then some. And apparently it's bound to this Feneck but I can't tell what type of binding it is. It's definitely NOT a contract though, that's for sure." The tiger stated matter-of-factly. The tiger just gave an impassive face while the Drakel next to him seemed frozen with his maw agape just staring at the fox and his dragon.
"Looks like you found someone pretty interesting here Raan..." the tiger trailed off to which the fox responded by gulping nervously.
"Oh boy..." Darius sighed out loud.